


Sherlollipops - As Simple As That

by MizJoely



Series: 221 Sherlollipops [219]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-The Final Problem, Sherlolly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 06:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9536036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizJoely/pseuds/MizJoely
Summary: Another take on the aftermath of The Call.





	

Molly sat silently while Sherlock related the whole, sorry story. The sister he’d literally forgotten. The mind games she’d been playing, both behind the scenes and while in Sherlock’s presence, for five years. The ammunition she’d given Jim Moriarty to use against Sherlock. The reason Sherlock had forced Molly to admit that she loved him over the phone.

Her murder of Sherlock’s best friend, at the tender age of five.

It was at that point in the narrative that Molly’s hand moved from where it rested on her lap, reaching out and resting atop Sherlock’s. Offering quiet comfort, sympathy, and understanding she wasn’t yet ready to verbalise. Offering an anchor that the normally aloof consulting detective clutched onto like a lifeline as he finished the tale. “I rewrote my memories,” he concluded, still holding her hand tightly in his own. “I turned Redbeard into a family pet, I eliminated Eurus, and by proxy my own emotional side. For the sake of my own sanity. But in the end, I reached out to her. Landed the plane, promised to bring her home, but of course, I lied.” He squeezed his eyes shut, and Molly’s heart contracted at the obvious pain he was feeling. “She’s been taken back into custody, and it’s where she belongs, but I can’t help feeling, wondering…”

“Wondering what might have happened if someone had reached out to her sooner, tried to get through to her, how many lives might have been saved,” Molly said softly.

He nodded, eyes still tightly shut. Both hands now held onto hers, fingers entwined, and she leaned forward and placed her forehead against his shoulder. He gave a great shuddering sigh and his head came down, his cheek resting against the top of her head. Molly extracted her hands from his and pulled him into a comforting embrace. “It’s all right, Sherlock, I understand. I’m not angry.”

“Why aren’t you, though?” he asked, his voice a tired, bewildered rumble she felt as much as heard. “I made you go through all that, made you tell me something I’ve always known…”

“But had never actually heard me say,” she reminded him. One hand reached up to brush soothingly at the disheveled curls at the nape of his neck. “Words that we both needed to hear - and to say to each other.”

He raised his head at that, pulling back in order to look her directly in the eyes. She returned his gaze steadily, unflinchingly, and his expression morphed from confusion to wonder. “How long have you known?” he asked.

She gave a half-shrug and a tiny smile. “Since I was engaged to Tom. Since that day you asked me out to solve crimes with you.” She drew a deep breath and let it out as a soft sigh. “Since you told me that you knew I couldn’t do it again.” When his confused expression returned, she chuckled, not unkindly, and explained. “Think about it, Sherlock. If there was nothing between us but friendship, why would it have mattered if I was engaged to another man? Why would our day together be any different to a day of solving crimes with John? No, I knew it then. I saw the regret in your eyes, and I felt it myself. But I was too stubborn, too insistent that I was in love with Tom. I half-expected you to call me out for being so, so fake about my enthusiasm about the life I was making with him.”

“I did note that you said nothing about him personally, only about his family and his friends and his dog,” Sherlock admitted. “But I wanted you to be happy and I didn’t think you could be, with me. I thought I’d bring you nothing but misery and besides, I was deep in denial.” He gave a brittle laugh. “Much good it did me in the end.”

“Being forced to admit your love in front of an audience while you think you’re breaking the person you love’s heart isn’t exactly an ideal situation,” Molly agreed with a wan smile. “Still, it’s out there now.” She kissed his brow. “And when you’ve decided what to do with it, you know where to find me.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “What makes you think I don’t know what to do with it now, Molly Hooper?”

For the first time since his arrival on her doorstep in the wee hours of the morning, Molly looked flustered. Uncertain. “Um, because it was a forced emotional breakthrough? In front of an audience? When you thought my life was in danger and you only wanted to keep me safe? And I made you say it first because I thought you were, well, being cruel?”

She hated that they were all questions, but Sherlock’s response had stunned her, sent her scrambling both verbally and emotionally. “I just don’t want you to feel pressured,” she said, nodding her head firmly. “To feel like you have to do something when you’re probaby still trying to work through everything that just happened.”

“Oh, yes, I have loads to sort through,” he agreed, easily enough. Then he tilted his head down until their foreheads rested together. Molly’s eyes fluttered shut reflexively as his hold on her tightened. “But my feelings for you aren’t part of that. I love you, Molly Hooper. There. I said it while not under duress. And I said it first, without being asked. So what do you deduce about me because of that?”

She turned her head until their mouths were only a hair’s breadth apart. “I love you, too, Sherlock Holmes.” 

And when their lips met in a soft kiss, it was because they both knew there was nothing left to say.


End file.
